The Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC) and Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI), which have been at loggerheads for quite some time now, leading to non-cooperation in the completion of production work of several movies, have arrived at a compromise pursuant to the appointment of a retired judge of the Madras High Court to mediate their dispute.

Justice P. Dhanabal on Friday (September 12, 2025) disposed of a civil suit filed by TFPC against FEFSI after their advocates Krishna Ravindran and G. Mohanakrishnan presented a joint compromise memo signed by the office-bearers of both the entities in the presence of retired judge M. Govindaraj. The judge directed the Registry to return the court fees of ₹3 lakh to TFPC since the matter had been settled out of court.

According to the joint compromise memo signed by TFPC president N. Ramasamy, FEFSI president R.K. Selvamani, and a few other office-bearers, the parties had agreed to enter into a fresh Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with respect to wages and other conditions of work that members of various associations, affiliated with FEFSI, would be entitled to when they get engaged for film work.

Until the signing of the fresh MoU, the parties had agreed to abide by the clauses of the previous MoU that was meant to be in force between March 10, 2022, and March 9, 2025. The parties also agreed that the film technicians would be govered by the individual agreements that they had signed with the production houses with respect to movies that were at the shooting/post production stage.

It was also agreed that TFPC shall not prohibit members of FEFSI from working with members of other producer associations. “TFPC agrees to work only with FEFSI and its affiliates with regard to working patterns, wage patterns, service conditions and other general conditions, and arrive at a fresh standard agreement which will be binging on all other producer associations,” the memo read.

Further, agreeing to revise the MoU once in three years, both parties agreed to withdraw the call for non-cooperation with each other. They also agreed not to pursue any disciplinary action initiated against their members for having violated the boycott call. It was agreed to maintain professional standards, mutual respect, and non-interference with each other’s activities.

Justice K. Kumaresh Babu had appointed Mr. Govindaraj as the mediator on July 2 after finding that the dispute in question could be resolved best through an alternative dispute resolution mechanism.